This Means War
by RisemboolRanger
Summary: Not quite guardian material, Catty Fawkes enjoys spending her eternity playing with fireworks and waging rivalry on her polar opposite. But there's something more sinister going on and the Man in the Moon isn't the only one choosing guardians anymore. Now the threat of a real war is looming closer... Jack/OC. May accept OCs
1. Fire and Ice

It was hard work being a guardian. You spent eternity working to make children happy and keep them believing in you. Because if they didn't believe… then you began to lose your power. You couldn't do anything… It was the people around the world – children most especially – who made guardians who they were. Which was why the guardians had to work so hard to protect them and keep them happy. Keep them believing.

And that was exactly why Catty Fawkes was glad she wasn't actually a guardian. She felt like she did enough work as it was. She had only a few nations of people around the world who believed in her magic, but that was enough for her. More people meant more work to keep them all happy.

And she had enough on her plate already. Bonfire Night was her main holiday, though that was only celebrated by a few countries across the world – the United Kingdom and Canada. But on top of that she also got involved with Independence Day, New Year's Eve, Diwali, the Chinese New Year and other exclusive occasions that people held around the globe.

Before she'd been chosen she'd been living in the shadows… So not being seen by most people now didn't bother her in the slightest. She was happy enough to just get on with what she was supposed to do.

Sometimes she _did_ get lonely always being on her own… It was often fun to harass the other guardians, but they all had their own work to do and it never stayed fun for long before they really lost their patience with her. They never classed as _real_ company. As real fun.

But fortunately there _was_ somebody else who she could derive endless amounts of entertainment from… The cold to her heat. The ice to her fire. Her polar opposite…

Jack Frost.

Now he was somebody who appreciated what it meant to _not_ be a guardian. Apparently no matter how much she tried to hassle the other guardians she'd still never be as much of a nuisance to them, or anybody else, as Jack Frost was. He was quite literally a master of trouble.

But that didn't necessarily mean that she liked Jack Frost… Oh no. If anything it was completely the opposite. When you had been chosen, yet still weren't believed in, there was only so much you could do to keep yourself entertained. The powers that Catty had gained when she'd been chosen had only amused her for so long… Until she'd realised the benefit of using them on other people, that is.

She'd fast learnt that causing trouble for others was one of the most entertaining ways to fill her time. And with the powers she'd been given it was pretty easy for her to cause the mayhem that she wanted. The only problem was that Jack Frost had figured out the same thing… And he was notoriously better at it.

And that just made Catty's blood boil.

Catty had always hated snow. Well, that was what she told herself anyway… In all honesty, she was just being petty and it wasn't actually true. Every child, every teenager and even a fair few adults loved to build snowmen, create snow angels, go sledging down snowy hills... Catty hadn't really been an exception to that, no matter how much she insisted otherwise.

Now, however, she genuinely _did_ dislike the snow. After years of being hit in the face with snowballs, slipping on the ice, being drenched by freak snowfalls from the rooftops… Though of course they were never 'freak' accidents. None of it was. It was all very much done on purpose by the boy that she'd been competing with for several decades now.

Which was why she was so damn pleased that she'd been gifted with the ability to melt snow and ice. And that was also what made the dislike between them very mutual. If there was one thing Jack Frost didn't like it was his mischief going to waste.

Catty settled down onto one of the rooftops, melting the snow around her so that she could sit more comfortably. She could feel the cold but it didn't actually bother her. Her body ran on too high a temperature for her to be bothered by cold. It was more the damp that she didn't like.

It was always easy to tell where Jack Frost had been, much the same as the other guardians and anyone else who had been chosen. Their work always left a distinctive mark on the world. Catty sat with one knee up close to her face, the other leg swinging languidly in the air as she lazily melted away lines of snow, undoing what Jack had created.

She didn't wield as much control over fire as she would have liked – it wasn't her main gift after all – but she certainly had enough to do things like this. And this was one of her favourite pastimes…

_Wham._ Something cold and wet hit her in the side of the head, splattering on impact. Catty was on her feet in an instant, shaking the soggy mass out of her hair, ready to fight back. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who the culprit was.

"And here I thought you'd already made enough mess around here," she said, running one hand over the side of her fire-coloured hair that the snowball had hit, drying it instantly with the heat surging from her fingertips. "I didn't expect you to still be hanging around."

Jack landed on the rooftop. Spirals of frost appeared with every step of his bare feet, re-covering the patches of the roof that Catty had already cleared. "Well I've learnt to hang back, since you always seem to get here afterwards and ruin everyone's fun."

"I don't ruin _anyone's_ fun," argued Catty, keeping her hands ready in case she needed to start throwing things back. With Jack that was always a definite possibility. "Nobody wants your stupid snow."

"Are you totally clueless?" asked Jack disbelievingly, leaning casually against the wooden staff that he always carried. "Kids _love_ snow. A lot more than they love fireworks."

"Yeah right," scoffed Catty, gesturing to the snow on the ground around them that had already started to become trodden into a grey sludge. "There is no way that kids would prefer _this_… to this." She conjured up a small starburst and threw it into the air, where it exploded into a golden flower of lights and glitter.

"Not bad – I'll give you that one," shrugged Jack. "But you see, the thing with fireworks is that after about the fifth or sixth one they start to get… _boring_." A snowball materialised in Jack's free hand. "Yet no matter how many snowballs you throw, that's _always_ entertaining."

Catty knew to dodge this time, so when Jack threw the snowball at her it simply sailed past as she quickly skipped aside. She produced another starburst, now _definitely_ ready to fight back. Only when she looked round Jack had taken flight and disappeared. It wasn't like him to give up so easily and run away… She kept the small firework in her hand just in case.

"You know…" Catty jumped as she heard Jack's voice behind her. She whirled round to find him balancing on a chimney, looking smug. "You could use a little blue in that dress."

He pointed his staff at the cherry red, rainbow-patterned dress that she always wore. Tiny licks of blue frost danced their way up the hem. Catty discarded the starburst that was still in her hand and impatiently shot a line of sparks at her dress instead, instantly melting the frost away.

"I don't think so," she said indignantly. "Blue's the opposite of red. Don't you know that opposites don't go?"

"Well, _technically_ the opposite of red is green," said Jack annoyingly, hopping back down onto the roof beside her. He crouched down and pointed at her dress again, though this time with his finger. "And it looks like there's some of that in there too…"

Catty skipped back away from him, feeling irritated. "Try that again and you're gonna get a firework in your face."

Jack straightened up and followed her across the rooftop, his trademark smirk on his face. "Hasn't anyone ever told you it's dangerous to play with fireworks?"

Catty conjured up another firework in her hand. "Why don't we test it on you and find out?" she threatened lightly. "Here… I made this one blue especially just for _you_."

With that last word she tossed the firework at Jack, who ducked automatically. It burst into a flurry of blue and silver stars behind him. He pushed off into the air, floating above her with a grin on his face. "Aww, you shouldn't have… Glad to see I've had an affect on your work."

Catty gritted her teeth and fired another long line of sparks at him. He avoided those too, easily floating out of the way. Right… If he was going to play that way then so was she. It was time to fight fire with… Well. You get the gist.

Using her fireworks as propulsion like she always did, she zoomed up into the air after Jack. Jack grinned when he saw her coming and flew up even higher, using his staff to rain snowflakes down on her. "Now that's more like it!"

Catty dodged around the worst of the snow and melted the rest of it with small bursts of heat and sparks. She whipped up several more fireworks and threw them alternately at Jack as she flew higher too. He managed to dodge all of them and retaliated by creating and throwing more snowballs.

This was a regular occurrence. The people of the towns around the area were probably always very confused by the freak snowstorms and unexplained displays of fireworks... But what did Catty and Jack care about what people thought? They weren't guardians. They didn't have to follow the same rules.

This was the kind of fun that they enjoyed. Even if it was at each other's expense. The mutual challenge between them had never changed.

Catty landed on one of the chimney tops, rotating her arm in a circular motion to create a kind of mobile Catherine wheel. Catherine wheels were her specialty – they _were_ her namesake after all.

"Catch!" she called gleefully, pitching it like it was a Frisbee.

It whistled through the air and Jack had to back flip to avoid it. The Catherine wheel hit the side of the building behind him, exploding spectacularly into a rainbow of stars. It didn't even leave a mark. That was part of Catty's magic. Her fireworks weren't dangerous. Unless she wanted them to be…

But in this case she didn't hold quite _that_ much animosity against Jack Frost. She knew first-hand how dangerous fireworks could really be.

"You must be losing your touch – your aim's getting worse," Jack goaded.

"It's not my aim," Catty countered as she took flight again. "It's because it's like trying to swat an annoying gnat that won't sit still."

"I take that as a compliment."

Catty feinted shooting sparks again and Jack dodged to the left like she'd hoped he would. She followed it quickly with another starburst, which hit its mark this time and burst into red, gold and green sparks in Jack's face.

He yelped in surprise and automatically shielded his eyes, almost dropping his staff. Catty giggled. Now this was more like it. As much as she hated to admit it, it was quite difficult to catch Jack Frost off guard. But then he _had_ been chosen before she had – he'd had a lot more practice at causing trouble.

"Now that's just playing dirty," said Jack, still floating in mid-air and trying to rub his eyes free of the colourful specks that were dancing before them.

"Oh, you'd know _all_ about playing dirty," said Catty. She touched down on another rooftop, intending to create another Catherine wheel.

"Another compliment," said Jack lightly.

He pointed the wooden staff down at her and whirls of frost shot from the end of it. The rooftop turned icy beneath Catty's boots and her feet slipped out from underneath her. Fortunately she'd been prepared for something like that and was able to use her fireworks to right herself and get back up into the air.

But what she wasn't prepared for was the sudden wave of snow that Jack then cast down on top of her. The weight of it knocked her back down onto the rooftop and off her feet. She landed ungainly on her butt with a bump. Jack burst out laughing somewhere above her in the air.

"Didn't see that one coming, did you?" he laughed.

Damn him… Catty struggled back to her feet on the icy surface, scowling and shaking snow out of her hair and face. She ran her hand over her hair again to try and dry it a second time, but this time her power sparked and sputtered several times before she actually got any heat out of it.

Crap. Though she could generally summon enough heat for small tasks, it didn't work that well if she was already too soaked. After all, a firework couldn't start if it was wet. Damn that Jack Frost…

Catty managed to dry herself enough to get her fireworks going so that she could get back into the air. She'd kept it an utmost secret that her powers were rendered useless if she was too wet. She definitely didn't want Jack to find out – who knew what measures he'd resort to if he discovered her main weakness.

She felt the urge to say something cheesy and cliché… _You may have won this round but the war's not over yet._ But she didn't really want to draw attention to the fact that she was taking flight too soon. So instead she shot off another display of fireworks into the air, trying to build her power back up.

"I think I'm gonna bounce before I get bored," she called casually, feigning a yawn. "Catch you later, Mr. Freeze."

"What, you're giving up already?" Jack grinned, looking amused.

"I'm just worried that the more time I spent with you, the more I may want to start using _real_ explosives."

She ducked the next snowball that came her way and zoomed off, laughing to herself. Once she was safely out of sight she started flying lower to the ground, just in case her powers _did_ suddenly decide to conk out. Her hair and dress were still quite damp. Urgh…

She drifted along lazily just a few feet above the ground. She didn't really have anywhere to call a home anymore. Before she'd been chosen she'd lived in England. But the United Kingdom wasn't really for her… It was always wet and most of the people there were just too miserable.

Now she generally hung around wherever she wanted. Nobody could see her, so what did she have to worry about? The one thing that she made sure of, however, was that she was always very far away from Jack Frost when she decided to kick back and relax. She certainly wouldn't put it past him to blow ice in her ears whilst she was sleeping.

"Nice dress."

Catty stopped in her tracks and looked around. The voice had stood out, sounded so clear, as if it had been speaking to her… She spotted a young man leaning casually against a lamppost, smoking a cigarette. He appeared to be in his early twenties, with quite long black hair that seemed to have been styled purposely to look untidy.

He didn't seem to be taking any notice of the people around him – instead he was looking straight at her. He could _see_ her… And he didn't seem at all perturbed at the fact that she was floating in mid-air. He had to be a guardian. Either that or he was like her… Chosen by the Man in the Moon, yet still not quite guardian material.

She landed lightly on the street next to him, feeling curious. "Are you a guardian?"

"Not exactly," he said smoothly with a brief smile. "If anything I'd say I'm more like you… You're Catherine Fawkes – the firework girl – aren't you?"

"Catty," she corrected him automatically.

"Catty," the guy repeated, like the name was an amusing anecdote. He didn't look away from her once. His eyes were a brilliant shade of emerald green… They were almost unreal.

"Err, so… who are you?" asked Catty.

"Who am I?" The guy looked thoughtful, the cigarette burning down between his fingers as he paused. "I've been given quite a few names. Sometimes I go by Bo… And sometimes Dante… But lately everyone seems to be calling me Temp. So I guess that's cool too."

"Temp…" said Catty slowly. And he'd thought the name Catty was amusing. "So you were chosen too?"

"Chosen? Is that what you'd call it?" asked Temp, looking amused. "If you and I aren't actually guardians, then what the hell were we _chosen_ for?"

Catty didn't know what to say. It was a question she'd never been able to answer in all these years… "I guess I don't really know…"

"Hey, don't look so glum about it," said Temp optimistically, taking a drag of his cigarette and then blowing the smoke out in one long breath. "As long as you can find your own ways to occupy your time then _not_ being a guardian is actually a hell of a lot of fun. No rules, no responsibilities… Just the freedom to use your powers as you please. Am I right?"

That was exactly what Catty had always thought. She wasn't tied down like the other guardians were. She just had to find her own entertainment to keep things interesting… "Right!" she agreed.

She had no idea who this guy was. He'd literally appeared out of nowhere, yet he seemed to understand her situation perfectly. Maybe there _was_ more to not being a guardian… Maybe she didn't have to feel at such a loss all the time. And _maybe_ she didn't have to spend so much time competing with that damned Jack Frost in an attempt to derive just a bit of entertainment…

Again, Temp seemed to follow her thought trail exactly. "And _you_ do so by waging wars on Jack Frost, right?"

Catty frowned at the mention of his name. "How do you know that?"

Temp laughed. "_Everyone_ knows that. We've all heard about the poor townspeople around here who think that the freak snow and light displays are signs of an apocalypse."

"…Seriously?" Wow. People were dumb. That was another reason that Catty was glad she wasn't as much a part of their world anymore.

"Seriously," Temp grinned. He then gave Catty a pointed look up and down, taking in her slightly bedraggled hair and still sodden dress. "But from the looks of it I'm guessing that the snow won out this time."

Catty scowled, suddenly feeling annoyed and self-conscious. She hated losing. Even more so when other people were aware of it. "He wishes," she said stoutly. "I just decided to leave early."

That seemed to amuse Temp even more. "I'm sure you did."

His attitude annoyed Catty even further – her temper as short as always. Suddenly the idea of somebody else understanding her situation didn't seem that interesting anymore. This stranger didn't _know_ her… She was done with this conversation. "Speaking of leaving, I should get going," she said shortly.

"Oh?" Temp's smile didn't falter. "In that case I hope to see you around… Though I'm sure I will."

"Right…" said Catty slowly.

She had no idea what Temp actually did, so she didn't know where to expect him to turn up or how to tell if he'd already been in the area… But she wasn't quite rude enough to ask. Whether they were a guardian or not, the people who had been chosen by the Man in the Moon took what they _did_ seriously. Asking what it was that they did, or saying that you'd never heard of them before, was considered quite offensive. It suggested that the magic they put into the world had gone to waste.

"I'll keep an eye out for you… And you should do the same," Temp advised. "We're very similar, you and I. I can help you to feel more accepted… I can give you a purpose."

Catty said nothing. Even though she wasn't quite human anymore, she still knew better than to start taking up offers from strangers. She didn't know Temp… And she certainly didn't know if she could trust him or not.

He didn't seem to be bothered by her silence though. "Oh, and if you ever happen to run into Cupid and Psyche, any Wisps or the Boogeyman… Then tell them that ol' Temp says hi."

Catty raised her eyebrows. She didn't know that much about any of the people he'd just mentioned either. "Friends of yours?"

"Something like that," said Temp with a smile. "Happy flying, firework girl."

Catty took that as her cue to leave. Using her boosters, she pushed back up into the air and zipped off down the street. She took one look back to see Temp still watching her, taking another drag on his cigarette. She shook her head and continued on her way. That had definitely been a weird encounter…

She had a feeling that things were going to start getting more interesting around here. But the question was… was that what she actually wanted?

**XXX**

**Author's Note!**

Yep yep, another new story. Really couldn't resist Rise of the Guardians… The storyline, the characters, the ideas behind it… Everything about it is just fantastic! It totally appealed to my creative side too – I had ideas for original characters exploding inside my brain straightaway! And who doesn't love a bit of Jack Frost? ;D

All characters mentioned besides Jack and the Man in the Moon belong to me. I'll also be taking on OCs for later on in the story, because I'm going to need quite a few new characters. I've made several myself, but I figured I'd make it a bit more interesting for you guys too.

Same rules apply that I usually use. Show me you're interested in the story first (and not just whoring off your own characters) then PM me for more info. If you start sending me some random-ass form that you've found somewhere else then I will NOT accept your OC. And I'll have a moan at you first too. It's simple - if you can't read the rules properly then you're clearly not reading the story either.


	2. Rough and Tumble

After being chosen by the Man in the Moon, it was all about knowing how to fill your time. Eternity was a long time to be bored after all…

Catty happened to enjoy people watching. Whenever she wasn't putting her magic towards fireworks displays or running around causing trouble and starting fights with Jack Frost, she liked to wander along aimlessly and simply observe the people around her.

And that was exactly what she was doing now. She skipped along the road absentmindedly, watching the people on the street who couldn't see her in return, who didn't know that _they_ were being watched. People were interesting. They had no idea of the amount of entertainment they gave Catty just by going about their lives as normal.

When she got bored of a town she'd take flight again and then end up landing somewhere different instead, where she'd repeat the whole process. The next town that she touched down in had a light frosting of snow covering the rooftops and the parked cars along the street. Oh, _fantastic_.

It had been a while since their last fight. And Catty had been quite good over the last few weeks, so now she was itching to start throwing fireworks again. She wondered if Jack would still be around like he had last time. Well there was an easy way to find out…

She took off into the air and started building up sparks in her hand. She entertained herself for a little while, using the sparks to melt squiggles and shapes into the snow. But it eventually became apparent that she wasn't going to be interrupted any time soon.

Catty frowned to herself. Well that was a bummer… _Now_ what was she going to do for fun? It looked like it was back to people watching.

She stayed airborne this time and decided to head on to the next town over. She jetted along with her fireworks boosters at the same level as the highest windows of the houses around her, stopping occasionally to peep inside a few of them and see if there was anything interesting going on… Or anyone who looked like they could do with having a few fireworks thrown inside the room.

As she reached the outskirts of the town, where it joined onto snowy fields, she spotted a white-haired and blue-clad figure lounging in one of the trees. _Perfect_…

He was busy watching a group of kids who were playing on the opposite side of the road. Catty started to form a firework in her hand, but then quickly discarded it when she had a better idea. She knelt down to grab a handful of snow and mashed it into a rough ball shape. She was betting that Jack Frost had never been hit with a snowball in his entire life. And now he was going to know what it felt like.

Catty threw the snowball as hard as she could. It sailed through the air and landed right on target, hitting Jack hard in the side of the head. Catty giggled as he almost fell out of the tree in surprise. But he was suddenly up on his feet again, balancing on the branch and quickly looking round from side to side. He seemed almost… eager.

Then he spotted Catty, who promptly started laughing again. The side of his face and hair were both sopping wet. "Thought you could do with a taste of your own medicine!" she called.

But to her surprised, she saw disappointment wash over Jack's face. He didn't look like he was in the mood to fight back. In fact, he seemed disappointed that it was _her_ who had thrown the snowball. But then who else would it have been?

Catty opened her mouth to make some kind of light comment, but before she could do so Jack clutched his wooden staff tighter and suddenly zoomed off into the sky, heading back into the town that Catty had just come from… What the hell?

"Throwing in the towel then?" she shouted after him, even though she knew he wouldn't be able to hear her from such a distance. She touched back down onto the ground. Well that was a big waste of time… What use was Jack Frost if he wasn't going to fight back?

"I think you might've hit a nerve there."

Catty jumped. It was that voice again, as clear as if it was inside her very head. She found Temp stood behind her with an amused smirk on his face, which she guessed was his usual expression. "You again!"

"Yes, me again," agreed Temp, amusement lacing his tone as well. "Are you saying there's something wrong with that?"

Catty just shrugged. "S'pose not." She couldn't really remember what her issue had been with him a few weeks ago… "And what did you mean by I hit a nerve?"

Temp answered her question with one of his own. "Didn't you see how disappointed he looked when he saw that it was you who'd thrown the snowball?"

Catty frowned. "Well who else would it have been?" As far as she knew, _nobody_ could see Jack. Only few people believed in her, but Jack Frost literally had no one.

Temp gestured carelessly towards the group of kids who had now started building a rather crooked snowman. "He hoped it was one of them."

"But I thought nobody could see him," said Catty, feeling confused.

"They can't," Temp confirmed. "That's why I said _hoped_."

Catty's frown deepened. "And how do _you_ know that's what he thought?"

Temp looked thrilled that she'd asked. "Because that's my _gift_. You have your fireworks and your little sparklers… But I know what it is that people _want_. I know that one thing that each individual desires most in life."

Catty's frown turned curious. "Really?" It may not have been a physical power like hers, and ones that she was generally used to, but it did sound interesting.

"Really," Temp confirmed. "And that's a little bit of helpful info for you. They always say know your enemy, right? So now you know what Jack Frost wants more than anything."

"He just wants to be seen?"

Temp nodded. "Or at least know _why_ no one can see him."

"Huh…" Catty didn't know what to think about that. She'd never really seen that side of Jack before. To her, it seemed like all he wanted was to cause trouble for everyone else. But she had a feeling that Temp was telling the truth… She'd certainly seen it reflected in Jack's reaction earlier.

"It's an interesting one, isn't it?" Temp mused. He clearly had an idea of what Catty was thinking. "But I have to say that yours is more interesting still…"

"Mine?" Catty repeated, a little taken aback.

"Oh, don't think that you're exempt from this," said Temp. "I know exactly what it is that you want too. Or more… what you _don't_ want."

"So you don't know what I want then," Catty challenged, more bravely than she felt.

"Only because you don't know either," Temp pointed out. "For the most part you don't really care. You could belong like this for the rest of your life – neither human nor guardian… Just as long as you don't go back to how you used to look."

Catty clenched her fists automatically and glared at him. Only one other person knew about her life before she'd been chosen and even that felt like one person too many – though she couldn't really complain about that, since it was because of that very person that she _had_ been chosen by the Man in the Moon. But she certainly didn't like Temp being able to get inside her head so easily like that.

"Congratulations," she said dryly through gritted teeth. "But I don't remember saying I needed you to tell me that."

"Oh, so I've touched a nerve with _you_!" Temp looked delighted.

"You haven't 'touched' anything," argued Catty. "I really couldn't care less about what you can do or what you want. Just quit following me around."

With that she took off to the skies once more in a shower of red and gold stars. And she most definitely didn't look back. If she saw the mysterious Temp again then it would be too soon.

XXX

A few days later Catty happened upon her old rival yet again, though this time it was by accident. She'd been floating outside a church, inspecting one of the intricate stained glass windows and wondering why they were such a big deal. She liked the colours, but the pictures themselves weren't exactly pretty.

She'd been trying to decide just what it was about the proportions of the people illustrated in the glass that looked so off, when she noticed something blur past behind her in the reflection. She turned to see what it was and narrowly avoided the snowball that had been aimed at her face. It hit the window instead with a satisfying splat.

"Hey, you were supposed to let it hit you. You could have broken that window."

"Sorry, _I_ could have broken it?" Catty repeated disbelievingly. "_You_ were the one who threw that stupid snowball!"

"Yeah, but you were supposed to block it with your head," Jack grinned, hovering a way behind her. He pulled another snowball together out of the air. "Like this!"

Catty ducked and zoomed downwards, hearing the snowball hit the window like the first one. Jack followed, armed with yet another ball of snow. Catty turned abruptly and flew higher so that he zipped straight underneath her, shooting a line of sparks at him as he went past.

The sparks arced over him so close to his head that Jack felt sure they'd almost singed his hair. He jerked sideways out of the line of fire, swatting his white hair with his free hand. The sparks carried on towards the ground, dispersing as they hit the frost-covered grass.

"Hey, you were supposed to block that," Catty taunted from higher up still. "You could have set the grass on fire."

"You wish," Jack scoffed. "Your powers aren't that strong."

"Err, if I'm not mistaken fire beats ice any day," Catty pointed out.

"But water then beats fire."

"Water's not even your power! It's just a sad result of what happens after I'm done with you."

Jack's retaliation to that was another snowball. It skimmed Catty's arm as she tried to avoid it. Annoyed, she conjured a starburst between her fingers, but Jack was faster and able to create a second snowball first. Catty threw the starburst mere milliseconds before the snowball could reach her, causing it to explode into a flurry of glitter and wet mush.

She managed to dodge the worst of it and zoomed down closer towards the ground, using the heat waves from her hands to melt lines through the fresh frost that Jack had no doubt formed not long before. Of course this provoked him into chasing after her again.

He flew above and pointed the wooden staff that he always carried at her. Spirals of ice spun from the end of it and momentarily coated Catty's shoulder in a thin sheet of frost, sending a shiver down her spine. She careered rather ungainly out from underneath him, trying to melt the ice at the same time.

"Nice to see you're back to your dirty old tricks," she called sarcastically, as he came to rest in one of the nearby trees, watching her in amusement.

"Aww, did you miss me that much?" Jack teased.

"Like a hole in the head," retorted Catty. "But at least I don't sulk when I get hit by a snowball, unlike _some_ people."

Jack's grin never wavered. "Hey, even I'm allowed bad days."

Bad days, huh? He didn't show any resentment over what had happened the other day. No indication of whether Temp's explanation had been true. He seemed nothing other than back to his usual self. Well... At least Catty wouldn't have to feel guilty about this…

"If you say so." She swung her arm round in a spiral motion, conjuring up a rocket. "Then this is gonna be a _real_ bad one for you!"

She lobbed the rocket at Jack as hard as she could. He only just dropped out of the tree in time – the explosion showered him in a rainbow of stars and sparks as the rocket hit the tree. As usual, Catty's handiwork left no marks behind. It was more just the principal of how close she'd come to hitting him that got under Jack's skin…

Jack stepped back up into the air, floating upwards until he was level with the top of the tree. He made himself another snowball out of the air around him. "If that's the way you wanna play…"

Catty followed his lead. She formed a new starburst in her hand, using her free one to conjure up sparks. If she could melt the snowball before Jack threw it… Then she'd have the upper hand and she'd already be prepared with ammo of her own.

She grinned. "Bring it on."

They both started towards each other in the same second. It felt like everything was happening in slow motion. Catty readied the sparks in her hand… But before she could throw them something suddenly exploded in the space between them, knocking them both out of the air and blinding them with a brilliant white light.

Catty rolled several feet across the ground before coming to a halt. She pulled herself up into a sitting position and hastily rearranged her dress. What the hell had just happened?

The same thing had clearly happened to Jack, because she heard a distinct grumble of, "What the…"

As the spots caused by the white light disappeared from her eyes, Catty saw the source of the explosion. A swirling magic portal had appeared in the air between them. She'd never seen one herself before, but as far as she knew there was only one person who could be responsible for something like that…

But before she could think any further along those lines she noticed something even better… Jack had _dropped_ his staff. He always carried that thing with him everywhere – it was quite literally the source of his powers. Without it he couldn't do anything. If she could get to it first then she'd surely win this round, right?

She didn't waste anymore time thinking about it. Completely forgetting about the portal that had interrupted them in the first place, Catty scrambled to her feet and made a break for the staff. Unfortunately for her, Jack realised instantly what she was doing and quickly jumped up after her.

"Hey! Don't even think about it!"

Catty didn't get very far before Jack literally tackled her to the ground. "What do you think you're doing?!" she spluttered. "Get off me!"

"You're the one who's trying to take something that doesn't belong to you! You know that's called theft, right?" Jack pointed out, grabbing Catty's hands since she was trying to aim sparks in his face.

"Come on, it's not like I was going to keep it. I just wanted to see if I could do anything with it."

"No way. You use _your_ powers and I'll use mine."

With that, Jack clambered off of her and tried to make a beeline for the abandoned staff that was only a few feet away from them. Catty latched onto his leg as he went to run, so that he crashed back down onto the ground a second time.

"Come on, cut it out!" he protested, trying to kick her off. "Will you give it up already?"

"Only if you beat me to it," Catty challenged him. She attempted to scramble past, but Jack threw himself at her again.

Dammit! She was almost there – the staff was just inches away from them. She tried turning from one side to the other and was just about able to throw Jack off. She rolled him over, still trying to pin him down so that she could get the upper hand. If she was just a bit closer then she'd actually be able to stretch out and reach the staff…

"_Rádi bóga_, I should have known…" said a new voice.

Before Catty could even look up, she and Jack were both pulled roughly off the ground and then set back on their feet. Startled and forgetting their fight entirely, Catty turned around and found herself facing a man who everyone knew by sight but whom she had never met herself.

"…Santa?"

"Call me North!" said the man in a thick Russian accent. He was tall and very well-built with tattoos reaching up both arms and a long white beard that matched his hair. "So I come here to see one naughty child and I get two!"

"Hey, I've been pretty good lately. I haven't even tried to get into your workshop this month," said Jack casually. He'd quickly retrieved his staff the first chance he'd got, much to Catty's annoyance. "You must be looking for _her_."

"No, I was looking for you," North responded. "But actually… I can talk to both of you."

"Both of us?" Catty repeated. She didn't understand what Santa Claus, of all people, could possibly want with the two of them. "What do you want us for?"

"Not just me," replied North. "The other guardians as well."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "What; you want to enlist us or something? Because I'm not interested in becoming a guardian."

"Don't think of it as enlisting. Think of it more as… short-term project," said North optimistically.

Jack's eyebrows rose even higher. "So basically you want me to do work? Sorry, but that's not happening. You should have known that."

He clutched the wooden staff in his hand and made to fly off, but North grabbed him by the neck of his hoody before he could get more than a few feet off the ground. "Not so fast, Jack. Hear me out first."

"Let go of me!" Jack protested. Catty giggled. She had a feeling that not many people could get the upper hand over Jack Frost like that. Jack gave her an annoyed look. "I would have thought that _you_ wouldn't be interested in doing work either."

"Hey, I'm just here to enjoy the show," Catty grinned.

"No. Like I said, this involves both of you," North interrupted.

"Ha," said Jack childishly.

North gave him a shake irritably. "Are you _that_ childish, Jack Frost? Now just give me few minutes to explain first and _then_ you can make decision."

"Okay, okay," said Jack, attempting to loosen North's grip on his hoody. "If I agree to hear you out then will you put me down?"

"Deal," agreed North. He then dropped Jack on the ground.

"Ow! Was that really necessary?" Jack grumbled as he landed hard on his butt. Catty couldn't quite stifle another giggle and that just annoyed him even further. "That's it, fireworks girl!"

He swung the staff round and shot a beam of ice at her. Fortunately Catty had seen it coming and dove out of the way. She rolled all the way over until she was back on her feet and began conjuring up a starburst – one significantly bigger than what she normally used.

"Enough!" shouted North. He'd produced a wide-bladed sword seemingly out of nowhere and swung it into the ground between them with such force that it shook and knocked them both off their feet again.

"He started it," Catty muttered immaturely, pulling herself back up.

North was not impressed. "I said enough!" A second sword was now in his hand, which he shook menacingly in Catty's face. "You will stop fighting like children for two minutes and you will _listen_."

"Fine," Catty grumbled.

"Fine," Jack agreed reluctantly, getting back to his feet.

"Good." North pulled the first sword back out of the ground. "Now… I came to tell you something big is happening. Man in Moon is no longer only one choosing guardians."

"…He isn't? But who else is?" asked Catty, surprised.

"We don't know," replied North.

"That's helpful," Jack muttered. North shot him an irritated look and he raised his hands defensively. "Sorry. Carry on."

"We don't know what these new guardians are being chosen for… But it's nothing good," North explained. "Whoever is behind it has also started trying to turn other guardians."

"What do you mean, _turn_?"

"I mean that Cupid is no longer guardian of love. He is now guardian of pain and despair," said North gravely. "He doesn't help people anymore. He is no longer on our side."

"I didn't know that was possible…" said Catty. "Can a guardian's role really change like that?"

"If they choose wrong path, yes," replied North. "Now we don't know who to trust. We need to find out who is choosing guardians, who is working for them and who is next target."

"And you want us to help investigate." Jack made it a statement rather than a question.

North nodded. "We need every help we can get."

"Well I'm sorry, but there are plenty of things I'd much rather do than play detective," said Jack. "You'll have to find someone else."

"So you turn your back on us?" said North, sounding remarkably calm.

"Hey, I'm not a guardian, remember?" Jack pointed out. "I've never been a part of your little group. I'm not turning my back on anyone."

"Guardian or not, you are _still_ like us," North insisted.

"No, I'm not! I'm nothing like you!" Jack snapped. "And do you know why? Because the Man in the Moon actually _talks_ to you guys! Whereas me, he doesn't give a damn about. No, he just threw me into this sucky life and expected me to deal with it alone for all eternity!"

"Jack…" started North.

"No!" Jack cut him off, slamming his staff against the ground. "Nobody has ever cared about me, so why should I help you?!"

With that, he took off into the sky once more. This time North didn't try to stop him. Catty stared after him. In all the years that she'd known Jack she'd never seen him blow up like that. She'd actually never seen him angry at all – the most she'd ever seen from him was annoyance when she actually managed to get one over on him.

Just how much of a cover up was his usual devil-may-care attitude? She would never have believed it possible until now, but she actually felt a little sorry for him…

"What about you, Catherine?" North asked. "What's your decision?"

Catty bit her lip. She didn't even bother correcting him on the name. She couldn't help thinking that Jack was right… Unless you were a guardian too, then the Man in the Moon and the other guardians really didn't seem to care about you. They just left you to fend for yourself.

Temp had also been right when he'd said that Catty didn't really know what she wanted. It was true. And because of that she didn't want to tie herself to anything or anyone else – nothing other than the simple desire to just enjoy whatever was thrown at her in this life. As long as she didn't go back to the life she had before then she was happy.

She didn't want to join forces with the guardians in any way, shape or form. She just wanted to carry on doing what she'd always done. For now anyway… At least until she _did_ figure out what she actually wanted.

"I'm not sure," she said hesitantly. "I think I'd rather just stay out of it all…"

North sighed. "I cannot force you to help. Just remember what I said and be careful. Not everyone is as they seem."

"Right…" His words made Catty realise something. "You said you don't know who you can trust, right? So how come you trust me and Jack? What makes you think we haven't been 'turned' like you said Cupid was?"

North just laughed at her questions. "Because you and Jack Frost do not care about anything more than causing trouble for each other. Nothing more devious than that."

Catty couldn't help smiling. "Yeah, I guess you're not wrong there…"


End file.
